ABORTION FOES` MOVE DEFLECTED, PHELAN SAYS

Andrew FegelmanCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Supporters of restoring abortions at Cook County Hospital dodged a bullet Tuesday, beating back a maneuver they claimed was aimed at laying the groundwork for a legal challenge to stop abortions from being performed later this month.

The architects of the maneuver-which dealt not with abortion but tuberculosis-were incensed at the insinuations. The move to refer a plan for dealing with diagnosing and treating the disease to a specific committee, they contended, was simply an attempt to send it to the proper place for study.

''This has absolutely nothing to do with the issue of abortions at County Hospital,'' said Commissioner Carl Hansen (R-Mt. Prospect), who with Commissioner Richard Siebel (R-Northbrook) had pushed to send the TB report to a committee of the full board that both contend has oversight over Cook County Hospital.

Among the recommendations of the report were construction of isolation rooms at County Hospital and at the hospital at Cook County Jail, which has been diagnosing one new case of TB a week.

The move and the attempt to beat it back once again showed the maneuvering that has been taking place as each side tries to devise a strategy for protecting their position.

Cook County Board President Richard Phelan claimed that under executive powers he could restore abortions at County Hospital, which he did last month. His opponents, a bipartisan coalition of commissioners, contend that power doesn`t exist.

Phelan`s order is scheduled to take effect July 30. County officials said Tuesday about 100 women have called since the June 18 announcement, trying to schedule appointments at County Hospital.

At the core of the debate and the strategy Tuesday, is just who has authority over operation of the hospital. Phelan`s opponents say state law and the hospital`s bylaws clearly give authority over managing the hospital to the County Board. Referring the tuberculosis report to the hospital`s board of trustees, that is the County Board, would have set a precedent to use in attacking Phelan`s executive order.

Administration officials-who said the board has never met in recent memory as the governing board of the hospital-don`t dispute the bylaws or state law. What they maintain is that deciding what procedures, including abortion, are performed isn`t a matter that needs to go before the board.

''This was an obvious subterfuge to establish a precedent by which they might, somewhere down the line, thwart what we are doing but everyone saw what it was for what it was,'' Phelan said Tuesday.

The matter was eventually sent to the board`s Health and Hospitals Committee, but Siebel still viewed that as a victory.

''What happened today was the board followed its rules and in effect, acknowledged that the board sets the policy for Cook County Hospital,'' Siebel said.

An intense lobbying effort from both sides in the abortion debate has been occurring in recent weeks and that continued Tuesday when a group calling itself African Women for Choice voiced its support for Phelan`s order.

In addition, a group of Democratic officials, including Democratic State Chairman Gary LaPaille, U.S. Reps. Charles Hayes and Sidney Yates, State Comptroller Dawn Clark Netsch and State Treasurer Patrick Quinn, signed a letter to the commissioners urging them to support the restoration, calling it ''a matter of fairness.''

Meantime, the first steps were taken Tuesday toward putting a financial team in place for a bond issue of between $200 million and $220 million to be sold later this year. The bond issue is expected to be presented to the board`s Finance Committee later this month.

The bonds are the second part of Phelan`s plan to raise nearly $1 billion by 1995 to pay for a host of projects, including adding more space to Cook County Jail and renovating County Hospital.

In March, the board approved the first stage of that plan, a $200 million issue that drew criticism from Phelan opponents over the fees that would be collected by attorneys and financiers and over the bond issue itself, which some commissioners complained would bring another tax increase.

The board Tuesday also referred to a committee a proposal that would place an issue on the ballot in November to bring 911 service to

unincorporated Cook County and to the 22 suburbs that have never held a referendum on installing the emergency telephone system.

According to the Cook County sheriff`s office, more than 150,000 homes and businesses are in areas that don`t have 911 systems.